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Geological and Cultural Context of the Nogahabara I Site

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Charles E. Holmes ,
Ben A. Potter ,
Joshua D. Reuther ,
Owen K. Mason ,
Robert M. Thorson  and
Peter M. Bowers
Charles E. Holmes
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of Alaska Anchorage, Anchorage, AK 99501 (afceh@uaa.alaska.edu)
Ben A. Potter
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, AK 99775 (ben.potter@uaf.edu)
Joshua D. Reuther
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of Arizona, 1009 E. South Campus Drive, Tucson, Arizona 85721-0030 (j.reuther@email.arizona.edu); and Northern Land Use Research, Inc., 600 University Ave., Suite 6, Fairbanks, AK, 99709
Owen K. Mason
Affiliation:
Geoarch Alaska, P.O. Box 91554, Anchorage, AK 99509-1554 (geoarch@ptialaska.net)
Robert M. Thorson
Affiliation:
Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, and Department of Anthropology, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT 06269-2176 (robert.thorson@uconn.edu)
Peter M. Bowers
Affiliation:
Northern Land Use Research, Inc., 600 University Ave., Suite 6, Fairbanks, AK 99709 (pmb@northernlanduse. com)
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Abstract

Interpretation of the Nogahabara I assemblage as a Late Pleistocene abandoned toolkit rests primarily on the premise of a single brief occupation at the site. The limited contextual data presented do not discount a palimpsest of noncontemporaneous assemblages in secondary contexts associated with a lag deposit. Spatial patterning, lithic assemblage patterning, artifact surface alteration, and disparate radiocarbon dates at the site, as well as geological data from the Nogahabara and nearby Kobuk dunes, indicate that the cultural material was subjected to post-depositional disturbance. Alternate hypotheses of site formation and avenues for testing these hypotheses are considered.

Résumé

Résumé

La colección de Nogahabara I ha sido interpretada como un conjunto de herramientas abandonadas durante el pleistoceno tardío. Esta interpretación asume como premisa una breve y única ocupación del sitio. Con los datos contextuales limitados que se han presentado, no se puede desacreditar un palimpsesto de contextos no contemporáneos en condiciones secundarias asociadas con un depósito de residuos sedimentarios. El patrón espacial, la composición del conjunto lítico, la alteración superficial en los artefactos, y la diferencia en los fechados de carbono 14 del sitio, así como los datos geológicos de las dunas de Nogahabara y Kobuk, indican que el material cultural estuvo sujeto a alteraciones post-deposición. En este artículo, se consideran hipótesis alternativas de la formación de sitios y vías para probarlas.

Type
Reports
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 73 , Issue 4 , October 2008 , pp. 781 - 790
Copyright
Copyright © Society for American Archaeology 2008

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